Guidelines for Good Council Practices

The foremost assumption is that the position of the members of Council is akin to Public
Servants in the widest definition of the term possible as ICSI has stakeholders
from all sections of the public and therefore the Council and its members are
expected to do everything for the larger public good.

The President and Vice-President are expected to lead the ICSI and the Council with reasonable
restraint and should at all times strive to build consensus on all contentious
matters where there is divergence of opinion expressed in the course of
performance of their jobs as such.

The President as the first among equals should act as a honest spokesperson of the Council and air only views already debated and decided upon by the Council. In other words his/her personal opinions/wish lists should be avoided in press conferences and meets. It would be proper to have certain key issues decided at the Council before they are made public.

The Council members are expected to contribute to the debates in the Council without any personal biases or other prejudices with the conviction and belief that the outcome of every debate would be towards the advancement of profession and ICSI.

Any major proposal particularly involving sizable capital outlay should always be taken up for discussion ONLY when the Council is present in substantial strength and also during that time of the day when such strength is expected to be present. The members are also expected to attend the meetings till its conclusion.

Since the Standing Committees namely Executive, Finance and Examination shall at all times function under the control, direction and supervision of the Council the office-bearers, viz. President, Vice-President and Secretariat should strive to function within the major parameters laid by the Council from time to time.

ICSI has to conduct one Training Program for Council members at the beginning of each Council term with emphasis on role expected of Council Members, their desirable attributes, leadership dynamics in the changing paradigms, ideas, innovation needed to face emerging challenges etc. The Vice-President should be groomed to take over the reins and should attend at least one Leadership Development Programme of any major management institute.

There has to be an objective and critical evaluation by the Council of its performance each year.

The Council members should, at all times, refrain from influencing upon the Directorate and Staff of ICSI of their personal choices to avoid conflicting situations.

The Council should approve all publicity materials including films for public viewing; corporate films etc. to be used in the case of any major and significant event planned in brand-building viz. launch of a new logo, television film, corporate presentation etc.

The Council members should voluntarily recuse themselves from any Committee or forum of ICSI whenever they are sure and certain of any conflict of interest real or perceived.

The Council shall at all times adhere to the Secretarial Standards formulated by the Institute both in letter and spirit.

The Council should be informed at regular intervals, say on or before 10th of every month of full and complete information with appropriate and meaningful analysis about number of complaints/grievances received from students/members in the previous month, their nature, steps taken to resolve the complaints, reasons for such complaints with responsibility assigned to functional heads and explanations obtained from them. The statement containing the information should also provide a detailed age-wise analysis of complaints/grievances as also action taken to resolve exceptional cases.

The Council should be informed of estimates of key financial parameters for each quarter on or before 10th of the month following the quarter ending month with details of student registration for each category of the course viz. Foundation, Executive and Professional accompanied by a comparison between Estimates and Budgeted with reasons for variation, if any.

The Chairmen of various Committees should brief the Council with their plans for each year in the first Meeting held after the election of the Office Bearers. The agenda for every subsequent Meeting should contain a Report of the Chairmen on the achievements of the Committees since the last Meeting and the reasons if any for plans not accomplished. The Reports as aforesaid could replace the Minutes of the Meetings of the Committee now attached as part of the Agenda. These Reports would also enable their performance evaluation besides enhancing levels of accountability of members to the Council.

The views of the Secretary to the Council should be made part of the deliberations on any matter taken up by the Council. The Secretary should be encouraged to participate in the deliberations in a free and fair manner and he should also express his free and frank views on each matter taken up by the Council. Since the Secretary is responsible to the Council for implementation of its decisions, he should ensure that the decisions of the Council are implemented in the right spirit.

The Secretary & CEO should be primarily responsible for strict adherence and objective implementation of the Guidelines.